The Prodigal Daughter Returns?
by Kiss And Make Up
Summary: ..spoilers! for 6.9.. The only way I can see them turning this plot into something not completely ridiculous. The drama leads Luke and Lorelai to make an important decision. JJ


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gilmore Girls, but if I did, this season would be going a LOT differently.

* * *

"Lorelai, I need to tell you something." Luke Danes began nervously, trying to figure out a way to explain the situation without upsetting his fiancé. 

"Luke, if this is about that dream you had, I already know. You talk in your sleep sometimes, and it's okay if—"

"Lorelai, please!" He couldn't afford to let her interrupt him with her quirky comebacks right now. If he waited any longer, he would lose his nerve again. He walked over and sat next to her on the bed. "Last week, this girl came into the diner…"

"Oh my god! Was it Rory?" Lorelai was giving him her full attention now, hoping for news of her daughter.

"No."

"Oh." Disappointment was evident on her face.

"Her name was April, and she was ten years old."

"How do you know this?"

"She told me."

"Why?"

_Now or never Danes. No more stalling_, he thought,_ Just do it!_

"Because I might be her father."

"um… I'm sorry—what?"

"I might be—"

"I heard what you said, I just don't understand. You _might_ be her father?"

"She doing a science project to find out. She's running some DNA tests."

"Wait, I thought you said she was ten."

"She is."

"And she's doing DNA tests for her science project."

"Apparently she's really smart."

"Normally I would make a joke about how she's obviously not your kid then, but I guess this probably isn't a good time… so… what exactly happened that would have resulted in this kid being born?"

Luke sighed. He knew this question was going to come up, but he really didn't want to go into it right now.

"The first time Rachel left me, it was completely unexpected." Lorelai wanted to interrupt—_Rachel couldn't have had a kid! She came back! She was in Luke's apartment._—but she knew it would be better to just let Luke continue on his own. "I mean, we had been together for a _long_ time, and then she suddenly took off. I'm sure you can see why I was really upset at that."

"Well, of course."

"So that was a really rough time in my life. I was really depressed for a while, and once a week I would go to this bar in Hartford."

"Ah." _I should have guessed there was alcohol involved._

"One time, I woke up in the morning and well, I'm sure you can fill in the blanks yourself."

"Was it someone you knew?"

"Sort of. It was the bartender. I didn't really know much about her, but she knew a lot about me."

"Ah."

"I haven't spoken to her since that night, and I never even _considered_ that anything like this might have happened." He hung his head, internally chastising himself. "God, how could I have been so stupid?"

Lorelai wanted to be upset by this revelation of her husband-to-be having a "long-lost daughter," but she couldn't. It wasn't really his fault, and he clearly needed her support right now. She scooted closer to him and rubbed his back, trying to show him that she would be there for him.

"Luke, you're not stupid. You were drunk! There isn't anything you could have done."

Luke looked up at her and nodded, but she could see that his heart wasn't in it. He still felt like he had done something terribly wrong.

---

Luke came out of the Diner's kitchen just in time to hear the bell signifying somebody's entrance. He glanced up and stopped mid-step when he saw the little girl standing in the door-way. She looked him confidently in the eye and walked right over to the counter.

"Mr. Danes—"

"Luke." He corrected her.

"I've finished all of the tests for my project."

"Let's go upstairs and talk."

"Upstairs?" She questioned.

"My old apartment is up there. We can talk in private."

"I won't be long; we don't really need to—" Luke was already halfway to the curtain, so April just gave up and followed him. Once they were both seated comfortably on some of his old furniture, she began once more:

"First, I want to apologize. It wasn't really very fair of me to do this—to just drop this on you."

"It's okay."

"But I must have caused a bit of a panic, I'm sure, and it was all for nothing."

Luke sat and silently stared at her, while his mind began filling with endless thoughts, the main question being _What does _that_ mean?_

April pulled a folder out of the backpack she had brought with her and handed it to Luke. He opened it up, and right on top was a list of three men, each with a picture next to their information. He was the first man on the list, and in red pen, someone had drawn a big "x" over his name. Looking at the other two men, the one below him was also crossed out, while the third man was circled.

"So this means…"

"You're not my father."

---

"So you're _not_ her father after all." Lorelai and he were once again sitting on their bed, discussing the little girl that had temporarily disrupted their lives.

"Nope."

"Oh, well, that's good, right?"

"Yeah."

Lorelai stared hard at Luke. She watched his face: the slight turndown at the corners of his lips, the furrowed brow, the expression in his eyes.

"You're disappointed, aren't you?" She asked him.

"What? Of course not! Could you imagine how weird it would be if that kid was mine?"

"Luke."

He looked her in the eye and frowned even further.

"Yeah. I am. I mean, for a little while, I thought I was a dad. And, I mean, I know I always talked about how much I hate kids, and jam-hands and everything… but… I don't know. It was kind of a nice feeling."

"Oh, Luke…" Lorelai wasn't sure what she was supposed to say to console him. She didn't know if she could. She would be lying if she said she was sorry that April wasn't Luke's. The thought of Luke having a child with another woman brought a lot of jealousy. She realized this wasn't really fair—after all, she had Rory—but in her defense, Luke was _well_ aware of Rory before they ever even considered getting together. That's not to say that Lorelai wouldn't have been with Luke if he _had_ had a daughter—she just couldn't really handle the shock of a surprise one.

Deciding to just skip over any fake, meaningless words, Lorelai decided it would be better to once again just show him that she was there for him—no matter what. She found herself in the same position as before; making slow circles on Luke's back, trying to send him support through her emotions.

"The thing is, Lorelai, that I think I really wanted that. I wanted to be her father. Not just _her_ father, I mean, I don't even know that kid, but… I don't really know what I'm trying to say here."

"You want a kid." Lorelai summed up, quickly seeing where this conversation was heading, and mentally kicking herself for not expecting it.

"I guess." Luke looked at her, afraid to continue. Afraid of what she might say. "Have you ever…?"

"Thought about having another kid?"

"Yeah."

"A couple of times. I mean, I got so lucky with Rory, she was the greatest kid in the world. I know that I could never do better, and I've never really wanted to try." She stopped for a minute, reflecting on the situation with her own daughter, and wondering if it would ever be fixed. Once she saw the look on Luke's face, though, all thoughts of Rory were gone. "But," she continued, "I've never really been with anyone that I could picture having another child _with_, and I certainly wasn't about to do it alone again."

"You're not alone now."

"I know that Luke. And, yes, I could never have a better kid than Rory, but maybe with the right person…"

"You could get lucky again."

"Dirty." Lorelai gave a small smile, thankful for the chance to break the serious atmosphere. Serious sometimes made her feel uncomfortable. She could see her humor was not really appreciated at that moment, so she quickly reverted back to serious again. "Sorry."

Luke smiled back at her, waiting for her to continue.

"If you want to have a baby, Luke, then I want one too."

"Really?" Luke didn't want to raise his hopes. He knew that Lorelai could be a little flighty sometimes, but she wouldn't be on something like this, right?

"Absolutely… but not right now."

"Of course."

"I mean, we're not even married yet! And this thing with Rory…"

"We would definitely wait a while. You have to make up with Rory first, or else I know you would feel like we were replacing her or something. I don't want that to happen."

"I know you don't."

"Rory could never be replaced. And I don't expect that you would have the same relationship with our child that you had with Rory."

Lorelai's smile grew when she heard him say 'our child,' but then faded away at his use of past tense with Rory.

"So waiting a while is a must… but I would really like to have a baby with you, Luke."

Lorelai hadn't seen Luke look this happy in a long time.

"I'd really like that too." He leaned in and kissed her softly to seal the deal.

* * *

**A/N:** Okay. This is my way of getting this out of my system. I was so upset when I found out about this plotline, and I know you all were too. I mean, this is something that would happen on _the OC_ maybe, and if it did, that would be fine, because that show really is a soap opera, and things like this are expected. Until recently, _Gilmore Girls_ has been a "dramedy"—light on the drama and heavy on the comedy. Why are they trying so hard to screw it up? 

So anyway, this is my way of dealing with this little revelation. It's doubtful that this will be what actually happens, but this is the only way I can see them taking this and making it into something not _completely_ ridiculous, and it would be somewhat beneficial to the plotline, in the sense that this is obviously a conversation that needs to be had. Maybe they already had it though, and we just didn't get to see it.

I really hope they turn this thing around soon.


End file.
